This invention relates to clamps, and more particularly to a clamp having a living hinge, which can be quickly and easily placed in a clamped position with a minimal degree of physical effort by a user.
Clamps are used in a wide variety of applications. Typically, the clamp is comprised of a pair of jaws which are held pivotally to one another by a pivot pin or other like arrangement, and which includes a biasing spring which biases the jaws into a clamped position relative to each other. In some applications where a number of clamps need to be placed on a workpiece and then taken off, and this process repeated a number of times, the requirement of that the user has to use significant physical effort to overcome the spring force of the clamp in order to place the clamp on to the workpiece, and then again to take the clamp off of the workpiece, can lead to significant operative fatigue. This repeated process can also eventually slow down work tasks as workers become more and more fatigued from repeatedly applying and then removing a number of clamps. One such application involving the application of a large number of clamps is in the construction of commercial aircraft, and more particularly in the construction of interior panels used in commercial aircraft. Certain stages of construction of the interior panels involve adhering plastic trim pieces at the edges of interior panels. This assembly step requires the placement of a relatively large number of clamps onto the edges of the panels. This process has to be repeated a large plurality of times during the course of manufacture and assembly of the interior panels used in a commercial aircraft. Accordingly, a clamp which requires less physical effort by workers to use would be highly desirable in relieving worker fatigue and reducing the time needed to perform various assembly tasks.
The present invention is directed to a clamp which can be more easily manually manipulated by a worker, and thus causes a lesser degree of user fatigue when using the clamp. The clamp of the present invention comprises a main body having a pair of jaws and a pair of arms portions. Each arm portion is operably associated with one of the jaws. A living hinge is formed at a portion of the main body to allow the jaws to be flexed toward or away from one another.
At least one of the arms includes a camming member coupled thereto. In one preferred form the camming member is pivotally coupled to the arm. The camming member includes a graspable portion that may be easily grasped with a single hand of the user. The camming member can be moved by the user between a first position, wherein it prevents movement of the jaws relative to one another out of the clamped position, to a second position wherein the jaws can be urged away from one another. Moving the camming member from the first position to the second position requires only a very small degree of physical effort of the user, and typically considerably less effort than is required with many clamps employing coil-type biasing springs.
When the camming member is placed in a first position, portions of it interfere with the arms to prevent the jaws from being opened relative to one another. Thus, in this position the jaws remain clamped to an external assembly placed therebetween. However, when the camming member is manually moved by a user into a second position, the arms are allowed to move relative to one another, which in turn allows the jaws to move away from the external assembly placed therebetween. Thus, the external assembly can be removed. The camming action provided by the camming member allows the jaws to be placed in a clamped position with only a very minimal degree of user force being needed to be exerted on the camming member. Thus, the present invention can be used repeatedly in applications where the use of a conventional clamp having a coil biasing spring to bias the jaws of the clamp toward one another could result in significant operator fatigue.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.